Gabrielle
Gabrielle, the Battling Bard of Potidaea and Amazon Queen was a female Human from the past. She was the soul mate of Xena, accompanying her on her journey to find redemption, as she chronicled the adventures that they had. Having grown up on her family's farm in the village of Potidaea, Gabrielle began travelling with the recently reformed Xena and her lover Typhuss James Halliwell, when she saved the village from the warlord Draco. She was eager to learn how to fight, and later gained a fighting staff when she was given the Rite of Caste from the amazon Terreis, which subsequently led to her becoming an amazon princess. When their queen, Melosa, was killed by Velasca she automatically inherited the throne, but gave it to fellow amazon Ephiny, as she chose to continue traveling with Xena. After Xena's death in Jappa in 2375, Gabrielle taught herself how to use the chakram and continued her adventure for the greater good without her along with Typhuss James Halliwell. First Meeting Xena When Gabrielle first meets Xena and Typhuss, she is a farm girl living in the village of Potidaea with her parents Herodatus and Hecuba and her sister Lila. Gabrielle insists on following an initially reluctant Xena on the road. The two women soon develop a strong bond of love and friendship. Gabrielle evolves from a naive, idealistic teenager into a fully fledged, but deeply conflicted warrior fighting alongside Xena. The Amazons Gabrielle becomes an Amazon when she risks her life to defend a mortally wounded Amazon Princess during an ambush. Before she dies, the Princess Terreis passes her "right of caste" to Gabrielle, so Gabrielle inherits her rank as princess of the Amazons . This makes Gabrielle the heiress presumptive to the Amazon Queen, Melosa. Melosa's adopted daughter Velasca becomes a rival for the position of Queen of the Amazons after Melosa's death, but Velasca's schemes (which include aspirations to godhood) are foiled by Xena and Gabrielle. As Gabrielle wishes to travel with Xena rather than rule the Amazons, she appoints her friend Ephiny to act as Amazon Queen in her place. Gabrielle learns how to fight with a fighting staff from the Amazons. With Xena's encouragement, she develops a philosophy of fighting for the Greater Good without killing. Years later Gabrielle passes her right of caste to the baby Eve, daughter of Xena. Marriage and Widowhood About a year after meeting Xena and Typhuss, Gabrielle encounters Perdicas again and decides to marry him. The morning after their wedding, he is murdered by Xena's nemesis, Callisto. Gabrielle's grief and anger tests her ideals of reverence for life, but she nonetheless resists the impulse to kill Callisto. During this period, Gabrielle's strong commitment to peacemaking and compassion often serves as a counterbalance to Xena's warrior nature. Hope, Chin and 'The Rift' When helping to defend Britannia against Caesar, Gabrielle comes into contact with an evil cult that tricks her into killing one of its priestesses, Meridian. The loss of Gabrielle's "blood innocence" enables the evil god Dahak to impregnate her. After a pregnancy that lasts only a few days and she gives birth to a girl, Gabrielle believes that even though she was born evil, there is still part good in her from Gabrielle's side and that she was her hope to retain her humanity, naming her Hope. When Hope kills one of the guards, Xena becomes convinced that the baby is simply a vessel for Dahak; Xena then wants to kill Hope. Gabrielle manages to save her daughter by putting her in a basket and sending her down river - this precipitates a major rift between Xena and Gabrielle, Gabrielle betraying Xena by foiling her attempt to assassinate the tyrant Ming T'ien. Gabrielle alerts Ming T'ien to the plan and unintentionally causes Xena to be imprisoned and tortured. Several months later, Gabrielle finds Hope again, now looking like a nine-year-old, and already in the process of helping her father, Dahak, implement his plan to take over the world. Hope allies herself with Xena's enemy, Callisto. In revenge for Xena's attempt to kill her as a baby, Hope murders Xena's son, Solan. This forces Gabrielle to accept that Hope is indeed evil. She kills her daughter by giving her poison, an act that continues to haunt Gabrielle throughout the years. She holds herself responsible for Solan's death, as well as for betraying Xena a second time, even after reconciliation with Xena and Typhuss is effected through their musical journey in the Land of Illusia. When she once again encounters Hope, who was saved from the funeral pyre by her father, Gabrielle sacrifices herself to save Xena and Typhuss by jumping into a lava pit and taking Hope with her. Gabrielle mysteriously survives the fall, and is later reunited with Xena and Typhuss. It is later revealed that Ares saved Gabrielle, with plans to use her as a bargaining chip against Xena. Eli, 'The Ultimate Way' and Crucifixion After her first kill, and the traumatic events with Hope that followed it, Gabrielle temporarily embraces complete pacifism as an alternative to fighting by Xena's side. She and Xena travel barefoot on pilgrimage to India, where they encounter a series of false prophets and gurus, as well as a genuine healer and teacher, Eli. Eli claims to have found enlightenment and Gabrielle becomes interested in his philosophy of non-violence and inner peace, which he calls the Way of Love. Gabrielle attempts to follow Eli's way, and throws away her staff under his influence. However, when Xena is in the midst of a battle with the Romans in an effort to rescue Gabrielle, Eli, and a group of prisoners, Callisto uses Xena's own chakram against her and breaks her spine. Gabrielle chooses to fight to save Xena and even kills some of the soldiers herself. Before their crucifixion, Gabrielle tells Xena and Typhuss that she had chosen "The Way of Friendship". After her Death After being crucified, Gabrielle and Xena ascend into Heaven, but are soon ambushed by demons. The demons are able to take Gabrielle to Hell, where she comes face to face with the demonic form of Callisto. Xena and a group of Archangels are able to rescue Gabrielle from Hell before Gabrielle can fall to the darkness. She then learns that Xena has taken Callisto's place in Hell. and Gabrielle perform a dance]] She eventually forgives Callisto for the murder of Perdicas, and that act of forgiveness grants her the right to join the Archangels in battle. During her fight with the demon-Xena, they are restored to life by Eli. At this time, Gabrielle accepts her new path as a warrior and acquires a pair of sai (a dagger-like weapon with a long blade and twin downward facing curved prongs on the handle), which she carried in her boots. Along with her staff, the sai become a signature weapon thereafter. It is around this time, after adopting the sai, that Gabrielle abandons her philosophy of not killing in battle, and from this point on is shown killing several enemies. Xena's pregnancy, revealed shortly after the duo's return to life, further forces Gabrielle to fight and sometimes protect Xena. On two occasions, the god of war Ares, impressed by Gabrielle's new warrior skills, tries to recruit her to his side, but Gabrielle always resists. 25-Year Sleep and The Twilight of the Gods Gabrielle, Typhuss and Xena take a sleeping potion to fake their deaths in order to mislead the Gods into believing that Eve is also dead and no longer a threat to them. Ares mistakenly believes they are really dead and inters them in an ice cave. Around this time, Gabrielle develops a close friendship with Joxer's eldest son Virgil, who shares many of her traits as a bard and warrior. After reuniting with her older sister Lila, Gabrielle learns her parents and Lila's husband were killed while trying to bring back Lila's daughter, Sarah, who was captured by Gurkhan. Gabrielle struggles with the issue of seeking vengeance against Gurkhan, but despite this, she is able to rescue Sarah and the other girls in Gurkhan's palace. Later, Gabrielle is often troubled by her role as a warrior, particularly when she has to lead her Amazon tribe into a high-casualty battle against a superior army, led by the demigod Bellerophon who was the son of Artemis, to rescue a fellow Amazon queen and friend, Varia. Despite the success of the mission, Gabrielle tells Xena, "With each battle, I lose more of myself". Jappa and aftermath Xena's quest for redemption ended when she sacrificed her life to right the wrong she had committed many years ago in Japan. Her spirit, however, still very much appears to be with Gabrielle and Typhuss. According to the Darsham, Naima, this is only one of many lives Xena will live throughout the ages, but they all have one thing in common: whatever life awaits her next, it will be spent furthering the cause of good against evil. It is safely assumed Gabrielle and Typhuss then travels to "the land of the Pharaohs" which is in need of "a girl with chakram" with Xena's spirit. This now applies to Gabrielle instead of Xena, Gabrielle can use the chakram where in a symbolic gesture, she throws the chakram and catches it on its ricochet. Category:Humans Category:Xena family Category:USS Intrepid (NCC-724656-A) personnel